Among world leaders who engage in twiplomacy - the use of Twitter for diplomatic relations - President Barack Obama wins superlatives for the most followers but Pope Francis is the most influential, according to a new survey by Burson-Marsteller. The global public relations and communications firm found that more than three-quarters of world leaders are on Twitter - the online social networking service that limits messages known as tweets to 140 characters.

Shrestha and 80 other young techies and civil society representatives came together for the first time to create mobile applications to end gender-based violence as part of a hackathon sponsored by the World Bank. Patriarchy is a deeply rooted problem in Nepal. As someone who grew up there, I know of many instances in which women faced violence and discrimination. One-third of married women have experienced some form of emotional, physical, or sexual violence from their spouse in their marital relationship.

Yesterday Freedom House released a report on Internet censorship in China based on information they collected for their Freedom on the Net survey. The report is especially interested in Internet censorship since the leadership transition that brought Xi Jinping to power last November. It not only examines the obstacles citizens face in getting Internet access, but also on what is censored, surveillance, and how citizens are punished by the state for their activities online.

In Johannesburg, South Africa, there are a small but growing number of shared office spaces in which sole proprietors and small businesses rent a desk and other services. For small business owners and start-up companies, this route not only provides cheaper overhead for workspace, but it also helps entrepreneurs network. The OPEN Collaborative Workspace is on the fourth floor of a building in an artsy, up and coming area just south of downtown Johannesburg, in a neighborhood called Maboneng.

On Wednesday, Robert Mugabe, will seek another term as Zimbabwean president in a rematch of the contentious 2008 election with challenger Morgan Tsvangirai. ut this time, 33 years after the 89-year-old first took office, the icon of the African independence era is being hounded by a creation of the Internet age. In March, a self-proclaimed disaffected insider of the ruling Zanu-PF party created the Facebook page of "Baba Jukwa".

Five Latin America leaders are on the list of the twenty most followed on Twitter in the world, among them Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, ranking number ten with 2.1 million followers (followers). The eleven and twelve positions are occupied by the Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto and Colombia’s Juan Manuel Santos, each with more than 1.9 million followers in the world. The report “Twiplomacy 2013″ was released this week.

With official relations between Palestinians and Israelis still poisonous after a century of conflict, any constructive dialogue is newsworthy. But these aren’t security forces talking about joint military patrols, nor is this discussion connected to the sudden resumption of peace talks after a three-year stalemate. The group, brought together by Cisco Systems, is speaking their common language: tech management.

For Africa, the period since mobile penetration figures became significant has been characterised by innovation and technology-driven value added services. These are increasingly being tailored to meet the spending and consumption needs of consumers. For example, Kenyan-based Safaricom's M-PESA has tapped into the "unbanked" portion of the population by taking advantage of the country's high mobile penetration levels.